LI�AN (INVOKING CURSE)

If a man finds his wife in adultery, he cannot kill the adulterous man, for that is forbidden; nor can he make an accusation against his wife, for unless he has four witnesses, he receives eighty stripes for making a false accusation against the chastity of a woman.  But if the witnesses are not always forthcoming, which is most likely in such a case, what should he do?  This was the dilemma confronting the believers.  An ansAr posed the problem to Muhammad: �If a person finds his woman along with a man, and if he speaks about it, you would lash him; and if he kills, you will kill him, and if he keeps quiet, he shall have to consume anger.� Muhammad supplicated God: �Allah, solve this problem� (3564).  And a verse descended on him (QurAn 24:6) which gives us the practice of li�An.  The word literally means �oath,� but technically it stands for that particular form of oath which brings about separation between husband and wife with the help of four oaths and one curse.  A husband�s solitary evidence can be accepted if he bears witness four times with an oath by Allah that he is solemnly telling the truth and then invokes the curse of Allah upon himself if he is lying.  Similarly, the wife can solemnly deny the accusation four times and then invoke the wrath of Allah on herself if her accuser is telling the truth.  One of them must be lying, but this closes the chapter, and they are wife and husband no more (3553-3577).

author : ram swarup